March 9, 2025 • 21 mins
Let's dive into the fun zone, folks! This episode is all about injecting a splash of humor into our creative lives, because let’s face it, if we’re not having fun, what’s the point? I’m chatting about Michael Brennan's “Making Fun a Habit” series and how when we embrace the giggles, we’re way more likely to keep creating. Seriously, whether it’s cracking up over a silly cat video or recalling that time you dressed like a neon clown for a concert, humor is the secret sauce that spices up our artistic endeavors. So grab your favorite snacks, kick back, and let’s explore how finding what tickles our funny bone can transform our creative practices into a joyous adventure!
What happens when we blend art and humor? Well, if you’re tuning into this delightful episode of Create Art Podcast, you’re about to find out! Timothy Brien takes us on a rollercoaster ride of creativity, laughter, and self-deprecation. The heart of the discussion lies in the Making Fun a Habit series, where he emphasizes that if we’re having a blast creating, we’ll likely produce more. So, he challenges us to find that funny nugget within us and inject it into our art. The premise is simple yet profound: humor is subjective, and what makes us chuckle can fuel our creativity in unexpected ways.
Timothy opens up about his personal preferences in humor, revealing a taste for the edgy and the absurd, while sharing stories that’ll make you giggle and cringe at the same time. He shares his adventures with Monty Python and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, both classics that showcase how humor can be both timeless and relatable. The episode dives deeper into the art of observation and spontaneity—what unexpected elements can you bring into your work? He also encourages listeners to consider how their friends might perceive their humor and art, suggesting that sometimes our closest allies can provide the best insights into what’s truly funny.
As we meander through this comedic landscape, Timothy offers practical tips that transform humor from a mere concept into actionable steps. From keeping a humor journal to spending time with funny folks, these nuggets of wisdom remind us that laughter can be a powerful tool in our creative toolbox. So whether you’re picking up a paintbrush, pen, or mic, this episode is all about making the creative process enjoyable, light-hearted, and ultimately, a whole lot of fun!
Takeaways:
- Finding humor in your creative process can keep you motivated and consistent in creating.
- Timothy shares his experiences with dark humor shaped by his military background and its evolution over time.
- The importance of observing the unexpected in daily life to inspire creativity and humor in your work.
- Asking friends for feedback on what they find funny can help tailor your artistic expression to a broader audience.
- Maintaining a humor journal is a nifty trick to jot down funny moments for future creative projects.
- Surrounding yourself with funny people and media can significantly boost your mood and creativity.
Links referenced in this episode:
Making Fun A Habit Series
30 days to add fun to your creative practice. I will be going through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and help you make fun a habit. I had the...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Create Art Podcast CommentaryFind the Funny Part of the Make Fun
I have it series hello friend.This is Timothy Kimo Brien, your
head instigator for Create ArtPodcast where I use my over 30 years
(00:25):
of experience in the arts andeducation world to help you tame
your inner critic and andcreate more than you consume. So
it's 2025 and we're stillcontinuing on with the Making Fun
a Habit series by MichaelBrennan. He runs a podcast that is
called Creative Chats and Ihad the pleasure of interviewing
(00:49):
Mike on my other podcast. Finda Podcast About Links to the Making
Fun of Habits Find a Podcastabout and Creative Chats are in the
show notes so you don't needto write this all down. Just go check
out those show notes and youcan get linked to it. So what is
Making Fun a Habit series andwhy is it important to you as a listener
(01:12):
of Create Our Podcast? Well,I've noticed in my practice that
if I'm having fun creatingsomething, then I'm more likely to
keep on doing it and keep oncreating. So I was lucky to get this
book, this workbook. It's a 30day workbook. And what I've been
(01:33):
doing since I got this is todo a episode per day. And I'm going
to tackle each episode as, youknow, each day in the book as if
it's an episode of thispodcast. Now, each chapter is broken
up with a short story,questions to ponder, action items
and tips for you to do justthat. Make fun a habit. So that way
(01:57):
your creative practice is thatmuch better. So this episode we're
going to be talking about Findthe Funny and humor and comedy is
very subjective. What's funnyto me, I have kind of a dark sense
of humor. And this kind ofleads into our first question. What
do you find funny and why? ButI have a dark sense of humor and
(02:18):
part of that comes from mymilitary background where we used
humor to cope with verystressful situations. So what I find
funny. And you know, at thetime of this recording, I'm 52, I'm
a gen X, so I'm used to alittle bit edgier comedy than what
(02:38):
is acceptable in today's dayand age. I'm used to more risque
things and more things thatare, you know, insulting to people,
quite frankly. So what do Ifind funny? Well, it's evolving the
older I get. I have kids that,you know, one of my favorite funny
(03:02):
movies is Monty Python's theHoly Grail. Now, I can't show that
to my Kids right now There areonly 10, but I find that movie absolutely
hilarious. Something else thatI find really funny, the funniest
books I've ever read is theHitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
And it's the increasinglyinaccurately named Five Part Trilogy
(03:26):
and some of the things inthere, and it was written in the
70s, some of the things inthere people would probably find
offensive today. But I alsolike self deprecating humor. And
most of my humor is selfdeprecating. You know, I've told
in many episodes here, I paintlike a four year old on crack. Now
some people might go, ooh,that's kind of harsh. You know, four
(03:50):
year olds on crack. You know,you're dealing with kids and you're
dealing with illegal drugs,but that's how I describe my paintings.
And I think it's funny. Youmight not think it's funny. You might
go, well, I got a cousin that,you know, died because of crack.
Got it, okay? But I don't. AndI think it's funny. So humor is very
(04:13):
subjective. But whatever youfind funny, inject that into your
artistic practice. Figure outwhat's funny and why. The next question
is, what's the unexpectedelement you can observe? And I think
that's all part of comedy too,and all part of humor. Something
unexpected happened. You know,you're telling a story, you're painting
(04:38):
a picture, you're doing adance, you're doing some music. What's
unexpected in that? Back whenI was in high school and we did orchestra,
we had what's called a lawnconcert. And that's where the students
took over. And in one ofthose, you know, being an orchestra,
you gotta, you gotta dress tothe nines, you gotta be in a suit
(05:00):
and tie and all that kind ofgood stuff. So for the lawn concert,
I dressed up in a really loudneon T shirt and Speedo shorts. And
of course I was wearingsunglasses and, you know, who knows
how many beers I had to drinkbefore that concert. But, you know,
we would, you know, have ourdirector, you know, he would direct
(05:22):
a few pieces and I actually,you know, stop playing because at
the time I played tuba and I'ma big guy anyways, so we would all
stop at a prescribed momentand I'd go up and bump off the, the
conductor. Not really killhim, but just, you know, push him
to the side. And then I'dstart directing. And then sometimes
(05:45):
I would walk into the audienceand direct from there, I would go
to the back of the auditoriumand direct from. And we thought it
was funny. And that wasbecause it was unexpected. The audience
didn't know what was going tohappen. And they loved it. They absolutely
loved it. So the next questionis, what would my friends think is
(06:06):
funny about this? So yourfriends may not necessarily be your
audience members. Let's justput it out there. Your friends may,
you know, go, oh, well, you'rethe art guy. A lot of my friends
go, I, oh, Tim, he's the artguy. But then a lot of my friends
are artists, so there's that.But, you know, what are they going
to find funny about it? Andsometimes that's where you got to
(06:29):
start. You know, the peoplearound you, the people that you talk
with every day or every week,what are they going to find funny?
And are they going to find thehumor in this? Because if they can
find the humor in this, thenyour fans, your audience will more
than likely find the humor init. Especially if your fans in your
audience are not necessarilyyour friends. Now, I always open
(06:52):
up, you know, this. Thispodcast with, you know, hello, friend,
because you are my friend, andif I did something, you know, totally
unexpected, I would want tomake sure that, you know, you all
thought it was funny. So startwith that first. Find out if your
friends think it's funny. Ifthey think it's funny, then your
(07:13):
audience might find it funny.The next question is, what's the
metaphor here? So what are yourepresenting? What are you trying
to do? What, you know, what isthis funny thing representing in
your. In. In the piece? So,you know, if you just put some, like,
Groucho nose and glasses andmustache on in the middle of a poem
(07:37):
that you're reciting or, youknow, a piece of music that you're
playing? What are you tryingto represent? Are you trying to represent
the absurdity of, you know,the times that we live in? Which,
you know, here in 2025, welive in some really absurd times.
But what's the metaphor? Whyare you putting that funny in there?
You should have a reason foranything that you put into your artwork.
(08:01):
You know, no matter if it's,you know, painting, dancing, music,
writing, whatever. What areyou trying to represent here? Think
about that. We're getting alittle cerebral with the humor, but
I think, you know, if you planit out properly, it can be really
(08:22):
effective for your audience.And then the last question is, what
would a comedian say aboutthis? Now, I am blessed that I know
a group of folks in Chicagocalled Celsation, and they're a Latino
sketch comedy troupe, and I'veperformed with them and I love them
to death and I would love todo a podcast for them, but I can
(08:44):
refer back to them and I cango, hey, is this funny, guys? You
know, what does it make youthink? Of course, they're friends
of mine too. So that, youknow, kind of goes with question
number three. You know, whatdo your friends think? One of my
friends are comedians. So, youknow, for me it's, it's an easy thing.
Maybe for you, you're going tohave a hard time finding a comedian
(09:06):
to, to interview and put yourstuff in front of, but try to find
one. Try to find, you know,the comedian. Try to find a professional
comedian in your area or readup on interviews with comedians and,
you know, if somebody says,what do you find funny? Read that
(09:27):
part of the interview. Reallyfocus on that part of the interview
and you might find the answerto your question there without even
having to go talk to aprofessional comedian. Okay, we're
going to move on to actionitems. And the first action item
is be more observant in yourday to day interactions. I think
(09:48):
if you really try to find thefunny around you, you'll find things
that are absolutely hilarious.You know, whether you're watching
tv, listening to a podcast,listen to some music, whatever it
is, you know, commuting towork back and forth, you might find
(10:09):
something funny there. Or youmight look at a road sign. Lord knows
I look at enough road signsbecause I commute an hour and a half
each way every day. And someof the names of the towns here in
Virginia are just interesting.Like Bump ass, you gotta giggle at
(10:29):
that, so. Or the PI River.Yeah, I always call it the P River.
So take a look at the thingsthat are around you. Observe that
kind of stuff. You're gonnalook at your animals. If you got
dogs or cats in your house orchickens or whatnot, they're gonna
do funny things. They're gonnado stuff that make you laugh. The
(10:50):
next action item is askyourself questions. And I think that
relates to, you know, beingobservant. So when you find something
that is funny, ask yourself,why do I find that funny? You know,
driving by a city called BumpAss. Well, because it's got ass in
it, you know, it's got bump,bumping ass, Bumping uglies. I can
(11:11):
just go on for hours and hoursand hours because, you know, I live
here in Virginia. So askyourself why is that funny? And,
you know, hey, maybe it's, youknow, potty humor, which is very
low brow. Maybe it's, you'reWatching Bob Newhart. Bob Newhart
is one that. The guy has thedriest sense of humor and it's absolutely
(11:33):
hilarious. If you watch someold Bob Newhart, definitely check
that out for yourself. But askyourself, why is it funny? And because
he puts himself in thesesituations and he's a very unassuming
kind of guy and these are justoutrageous people around him, outrageous
situations and stuff thatyou're like, I can't believe that
(11:56):
actually happens. And it does.And that's what's funny about it.
Because you probably know,well with Bob New Art, he played
a psychologist in the 70s andyou probably know some of his patients.
So that's why I find itabsolutely funny. The next action
item is to keep a humorjournal. So you know, Mike likes
(12:21):
to. Likes his journals. Heneeds to sell some journals. He needs
to create some and sell somejournals. But you know, keep that,
you know, write that down.Remember it. You might use it in
a piece later on. You know,like today I might go write a poem
about Bump ass Virginia forwhatever reason, because that's what's
(12:41):
sticking in my brain rightnow. So, you know, keep that journal
handy and pull out that bag oftricks for yourself. That way you
don't forget it. Because, Imean, I'm 52 at the time of this
recording. My memory is not100%, so I'm going to forget. Sometimes
I forget what my name is. Sothat's why I have a tattoo of my
(13:01):
nickname on my arm. See, thereyou go. You didn't expect me to say
that. And it's kind of funnybecause it's true. The last action
item is spend time with funnypeople. Again, that's subjective.
I spend a lot of time with myfamily and my cats and you know,
kids are funny. Kids say thedarndest things. They can be super
(13:24):
duper funny. And I tell baddad jokes all the time and my kids
are starting to tell their ownbad dad jokes. Some of them are,
you know, kind of cute. Someof them are like, you really need
to take a humor class or acomedy class, but spend time with
funny people. It's going toimprove your mood. And this is kind
of what this whole making funa habit idea is, is to improve your
(13:49):
mood. And that way whateveryou're creating is going to be that
much better. Because if you'rehappy about it, if you're happy and
you know what, clap yourhands. See, there you go right there.
You didn't expect me to dothat, but I did it anyways. But spend
time with, with Funny people,because it's going to improve your
mood. And whatever you'recreating, it's going to be that much
(14:09):
easier to create. Becausethink about this. If you're writing
a piece and you're feelingreally good and you kind of feel
unfunny and all that, aren'tyou going to go ahead and keep on
writing? Versus if you're sadand depressed and you're like, oh
man, the world hates me,you're probably not going to finish
(14:30):
that great American novel. Younever know. But you probably won't.
All right, now we're going tojump into Mike's tips. First one
is pay attention to thedetails. So pay attention to what
is funny and why it's funny.Ask yourself why is this funny? Tip
number two is don't takeyourself too seriously. I'm a big
fan of self deprecating humor.I do it to myself all the time and
(14:53):
I try to make it humorous forme subconsciously. I, you know, I
tell myself I'm just makingfun of myself. It's okay. I don't
really believe this. But don'ttake yourself too seriously. You
know, you'll give yourself aheart attack or something. Don't
do that. We need you and weneed your art. Tip number three is
spend time with funny people.Again, we were bringing up, you know,
(15:16):
spending time with funnypeople. Again, very subjective, but
you're gonna, it's gonna ruboff on you is basically what it is.
So that I think that's whyit's mentioned twice. Next up on
number four is read funnybooks or articles and you know, four
through six or four, yeah,four through six is pretty much the
(15:38):
same kind of thing. You know,read funny books and articles, watch
funny TV movies or shows,listen to funny podcasts, surround
yourself with humor. Becausehere in 2025, you know, it starting
to feel a lot like 2020 whenwe had the pandemic. You know, a
lot of doom and gloom, but ifyou can walk through that with a
(15:58):
smile on your face. And again,you, you know, when I was in the
Air Force, we used dark humorto deal with stressful situations.
Surround yourself with thatkind of stuff and it'll help you
put things into a betterperspective. And then tip number
seven, the last tip is learnto laugh at the absurd. Right now,
(16:20):
here in 2025, a lot of reallyabsurd things are going on and there's
a lot of mistakes being madeby our government here in the United
States. You got to laugh atit. You know, you got to go, yeah,
how worse can it be, I don'tknow, it can go to this level, you
know, go with the absurd onit. And maybe that inspires you to
(16:43):
write something, to dance, tomake music, whatever it is. But look
at something that's going onthat's absurd and use that as your
creative device. Lord knows Ihave changed how I get my inspiration.
It used to be, you know, acouple of rum and Cokes and maybe
(17:04):
a big J. Now it's I just turnon the TV or go for a drive or I,
you know, go upstairs and lookat what my kids are doing and what
my cats are doing and go, nowthat's. That's funny. That's just,
you know, nuts. Or I go intowork and, you know, crazy directives
are being thrown at us, andI'm just like, okay, cool beans.
(17:26):
You know, some people haveused to deal with all the craziness
that goes on. Radical, youknow, following of the rules and
when the rules are writtensloppily well, hey, hey, you told
me to do it just like this.That's the way I did it. And there
(17:47):
you go. And it can be funnyand it can be great for your mental
health. Okay, well, that's allI got for this episode here for you
today. I hope you found it alittle bit funny. Hopefully you didn't
hate my bad dad jokes and mybreaking out in the song too much.
If you did well, you can reachout to me. Timothy create art podcast.com.
(18:09):
i definitely want to hearabout what you're doing in your neck
of the woods and your journeyand what you're working on and, you
know, hey, if you want to beon the show, if you'd like to be
a guest on the show like otherpeople have done, and you know, you
want to discuss a topic, emailme, let me know what you're going,
what you want to do, and wecan start that conversation. Want
(18:31):
to let you know, too that I dohave a newsletter for Korean art.
Podcast newsletter. I knowsuch a unique name there, but it's
found at Timothy Brian B r I en.substack.com check it out for yourself.
Get in your email box. I only,you know, do it every so often, so
check it out for yourself.You'll get to hear deep dives into
(18:56):
episodes that I'm doing andyou get to find out more about what
I'm doing around. So check outthat newsletter. It's a lot of fun.
Now, if you found any benefitin this podcast or any value, share
it with a friend, go rightahead. And do it in your podcast
app of choice. You have theability to share with other folks
(19:16):
or if you're listening to itfrom the website createartpodcast.com
Share that website withpeople. Here's the thing. I want
this to be a five star podcastin your eyes. I'm not even going
to ask you for a review, but Iwant it to be a five star podcast
for you. So let me know whatyou'd like to see. I do have a survey
on the website there. If yougo to createartpodcast.com survey
(19:40):
you can fill out a survey. Iknow it says 2024, but go ahead and
fill out the survey anyways.I'm looking at them and seeing what
I can do to make this showbetter for you because I really do
it for you. I do it for metoo. Makes me feel good. But I want
to make sure that your needsare being met in terms of creativity
and being an artist. Now,speaking about sharing this with
(20:02):
a friend, you can check out myother podcast. I mentioned it earlier.
Find a podcast about where Ihelp you outsmart the algorithm and
find your next binge worthypodcast. A lot of times I get interviews
with the podcaster as well andyou can find out details about the
podcast that you're not goingto hear anywhere else. You can find
it at findapodcastabout xyz.Now my last thing that I'm going
(20:26):
to talk to you about is I havea portfolio and I have a business.
It's called TKB PodcastStudio. You can find it at tkbpodcaststudio.com
that's where I help my clientsthrough quiet professionalism. Lead
through the noise and I canhelp you start your podcast and make
(20:47):
it a wonderful podcast. Ifyou're listening to this podcast,
you probably need a podcastand I can help you out with that.
So check me out over there andlet me know what I can help you out
with. Thank you so much forlistening to this episode of Korean
Art Podcast. It's important tohave humor in your life to look for
(21:08):
the funny things. So I'm goingto leave you to get on with the rest
of your day. I'm going to geton with the rest of mine to go out
there and team that inner acritic. Create more than you consume.
Go do something silly todayand make some art for somebody you
love yourself. I'll talk toyou next time.
Create Art Podcast CommentaryFind the Funny Part of the Make Fun
I have it series hello friend.This is Timothy Kimo Brien, your
head instigator for Create ArtPodcast where I use my over 30 years
(00:25):
of experience in the arts andeducation world to help you tame
your inner critic and andcreate more than you consume. So
it's 2025 and we're stillcontinuing on with the Making Fun
a Habit series by MichaelBrennan. He runs a podcast that is
called Creative Chats and Ihad the pleasure of interviewing
(00:49):
Mike on my other podcast. Finda Podcast About Links to the Making
Fun of Habits Find a Podcastabout and Creative Chats are in the
show notes so you don't needto write this all down. Just go check
out those show notes and youcan get linked to it. So what is
Making Fun a Habit series andwhy is it important to you as a listener
(01:12):
of Create Our Podcast? Well,I've noticed in my practice that
if I'm having fun creatingsomething, then I'm more likely to
keep on doing it and keep oncreating. So I was lucky to get this
book, this workbook. It's a 30day workbook. And what I've been
(01:33):
doing since I got this is todo a episode per day. And I'm going
to tackle each episode as, youknow, each day in the book as if
it's an episode of thispodcast. Now, each chapter is broken
up with a short story,questions to ponder, action items
and tips for you to do justthat. Make fun a habit. So that way
(01:57):
your creative practice is thatmuch better. So this episode we're
going to be talking about Findthe Funny and humor and comedy is
very subjective. What's funnyto me, I have kind of a dark sense
of humor. And this kind ofleads into our first question. What
do you find funny and why? ButI have a dark sense of humor and
(02:18):
part of that comes from mymilitary background where we used
humor to cope with verystressful situations. So what I find
funny. And you know, at thetime of this recording, I'm 52, I'm
a gen X, so I'm used to alittle bit edgier comedy than what
(02:38):
is acceptable in today's dayand age. I'm used to more risque
things and more things thatare, you know, insulting to people,
quite frankly. So what do Ifind funny? Well, it's evolving the
older I get. I have kids that,you know, one of my favorite funny
(03:02):
movies is Monty Python's theHoly Grail. Now, I can't show that
to my Kids right now There areonly 10, but I find that movie absolutely
hilarious. Something else thatI find really funny, the funniest
books I've ever read is theHitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
And it's the increasinglyinaccurately named Five Part Trilogy
(03:26):
and some of the things inthere, and it was written in the
70s, some of the things inthere people would probably find
offensive today. But I alsolike self deprecating humor. And
most of my humor is selfdeprecating. You know, I've told
in many episodes here, I paintlike a four year old on crack. Now
some people might go, ooh,that's kind of harsh. You know, four
(03:50):
year olds on crack. You know,you're dealing with kids and you're
dealing with illegal drugs,but that's how I describe my paintings.
And I think it's funny. Youmight not think it's funny. You might
go, well, I got a cousin that,you know, died because of crack.
Got it, okay? But I don't. AndI think it's funny. So humor is very
(04:13):
subjective. But whatever youfind funny, inject that into your
artistic practice. Figure outwhat's funny and why. The next question
is, what's the unexpectedelement you can observe? And I think
that's all part of comedy too,and all part of humor. Something
unexpected happened. You know,you're telling a story, you're painting
(04:38):
a picture, you're doing adance, you're doing some music. What's
unexpected in that? Back whenI was in high school and we did orchestra,
we had what's called a lawnconcert. And that's where the students
took over. And in one ofthose, you know, being an orchestra,
you gotta, you gotta dress tothe nines, you gotta be in a suit
(05:00):
and tie and all that kind ofgood stuff. So for the lawn concert,
I dressed up in a really loudneon T shirt and Speedo shorts. And
of course I was wearingsunglasses and, you know, who knows
how many beers I had to drinkbefore that concert. But, you know,
we would, you know, have ourdirector, you know, he would direct
(05:22):
a few pieces and I actually,you know, stop playing because at
the time I played tuba and I'ma big guy anyways, so we would all
stop at a prescribed momentand I'd go up and bump off the, the
conductor. Not really killhim, but just, you know, push him
to the side. And then I'dstart directing. And then sometimes
(05:45):
I would walk into the audienceand direct from there, I would go
to the back of the auditoriumand direct from. And we thought it
was funny. And that wasbecause it was unexpected. The audience
didn't know what was going tohappen. And they loved it. They absolutely
loved it. So the next questionis, what would my friends think is
(06:06):
funny about this? So yourfriends may not necessarily be your
audience members. Let's justput it out there. Your friends may,
you know, go, oh, well, you'rethe art guy. A lot of my friends
go, I, oh, Tim, he's the artguy. But then a lot of my friends
are artists, so there's that.But, you know, what are they going
to find funny about it? Andsometimes that's where you got to
(06:29):
start. You know, the peoplearound you, the people that you talk
with every day or every week,what are they going to find funny?
And are they going to find thehumor in this? Because if they can
find the humor in this, thenyour fans, your audience will more
than likely find the humor init. Especially if your fans in your
audience are not necessarilyyour friends. Now, I always open
(06:52):
up, you know, this. Thispodcast with, you know, hello, friend,
because you are my friend, andif I did something, you know, totally
unexpected, I would want tomake sure that, you know, you all
thought it was funny. So startwith that first. Find out if your
friends think it's funny. Ifthey think it's funny, then your
(07:13):
audience might find it funny.The next question is, what's the
metaphor here? So what are yourepresenting? What are you trying
to do? What, you know, what isthis funny thing representing in
your. In. In the piece? So,you know, if you just put some, like,
Groucho nose and glasses andmustache on in the middle of a poem
(07:37):
that you're reciting or, youknow, a piece of music that you're
playing? What are you tryingto represent? Are you trying to represent
the absurdity of, you know,the times that we live in? Which,
you know, here in 2025, welive in some really absurd times.
But what's the metaphor? Whyare you putting that funny in there?
You should have a reason foranything that you put into your artwork.
(08:01):
You know, no matter if it's,you know, painting, dancing, music,
writing, whatever. What areyou trying to represent here? Think
about that. We're getting alittle cerebral with the humor, but
I think, you know, if you planit out properly, it can be really
(08:22):
effective for your audience.And then the last question is, what
would a comedian say aboutthis? Now, I am blessed that I know
a group of folks in Chicagocalled Celsation, and they're a Latino
sketch comedy troupe, and I'veperformed with them and I love them
to death and I would love todo a podcast for them, but I can
(08:44):
refer back to them and I cango, hey, is this funny, guys? You
know, what does it make youthink? Of course, they're friends
of mine too. So that, youknow, kind of goes with question
number three. You know, whatdo your friends think? One of my
friends are comedians. So, youknow, for me it's, it's an easy thing.
Maybe for you, you're going tohave a hard time finding a comedian
(09:06):
to, to interview and put yourstuff in front of, but try to find
one. Try to find, you know,the comedian. Try to find a professional
comedian in your area or readup on interviews with comedians and,
you know, if somebody says,what do you find funny? Read that
(09:27):
part of the interview. Reallyfocus on that part of the interview
and you might find the answerto your question there without even
having to go talk to aprofessional comedian. Okay, we're
going to move on to actionitems. And the first action item
is be more observant in yourday to day interactions. I think
(09:48):
if you really try to find thefunny around you, you'll find things
that are absolutely hilarious.You know, whether you're watching
tv, listening to a podcast,listen to some music, whatever it
is, you know, commuting towork back and forth, you might find
(10:09):
something funny there. Or youmight look at a road sign. Lord knows
I look at enough road signsbecause I commute an hour and a half
each way every day. And someof the names of the towns here in
Virginia are just interesting.Like Bump ass, you gotta giggle at
(10:29):
that, so. Or the PI River.Yeah, I always call it the P River.
So take a look at the thingsthat are around you. Observe that
kind of stuff. You're gonnalook at your animals. If you got
dogs or cats in your house orchickens or whatnot, they're gonna
do funny things. They're gonnado stuff that make you laugh. The
(10:50):
next action item is askyourself questions. And I think that
relates to, you know, beingobservant. So when you find something
that is funny, ask yourself,why do I find that funny? You know,
driving by a city called BumpAss. Well, because it's got ass in
it, you know, it's got bump,bumping ass, Bumping uglies. I can
(11:11):
just go on for hours and hoursand hours because, you know, I live
here in Virginia. So askyourself why is that funny? And,
you know, hey, maybe it's, youknow, potty humor, which is very
low brow. Maybe it's, you'reWatching Bob Newhart. Bob Newhart
is one that. The guy has thedriest sense of humor and it's absolutely
(11:33):
hilarious. If you watch someold Bob Newhart, definitely check
that out for yourself. But askyourself, why is it funny? And because
he puts himself in thesesituations and he's a very unassuming
kind of guy and these are justoutrageous people around him, outrageous
situations and stuff thatyou're like, I can't believe that
(11:56):
actually happens. And it does.And that's what's funny about it.
Because you probably know,well with Bob New Art, he played
a psychologist in the 70s andyou probably know some of his patients.
So that's why I find itabsolutely funny. The next action
item is to keep a humorjournal. So you know, Mike likes
(12:21):
to. Likes his journals. Heneeds to sell some journals. He needs
to create some and sell somejournals. But you know, keep that,
you know, write that down.Remember it. You might use it in
a piece later on. You know,like today I might go write a poem
about Bump ass Virginia forwhatever reason, because that's what's
(12:41):
sticking in my brain rightnow. So, you know, keep that journal
handy and pull out that bag oftricks for yourself. That way you
don't forget it. Because, Imean, I'm 52 at the time of this
recording. My memory is not100%, so I'm going to forget. Sometimes
I forget what my name is. Sothat's why I have a tattoo of my
(13:01):
nickname on my arm. See, thereyou go. You didn't expect me to say
that. And it's kind of funnybecause it's true. The last action
item is spend time with funnypeople. Again, that's subjective.
I spend a lot of time with myfamily and my cats and you know,
kids are funny. Kids say thedarndest things. They can be super
(13:24):
duper funny. And I tell baddad jokes all the time and my kids
are starting to tell their ownbad dad jokes. Some of them are,
you know, kind of cute. Someof them are like, you really need
to take a humor class or acomedy class, but spend time with
funny people. It's going toimprove your mood. And this is kind
of what this whole making funa habit idea is, is to improve your
(13:49):
mood. And that way whateveryou're creating is going to be that
much better. Because if you'rehappy about it, if you're happy and
you know what, clap yourhands. See, there you go right there.
You didn't expect me to dothat, but I did it anyways. But spend
time with, with Funny people,because it's going to improve your
mood. And whatever you'recreating, it's going to be that much
(14:09):
easier to create. Becausethink about this. If you're writing
a piece and you're feelingreally good and you kind of feel
unfunny and all that, aren'tyou going to go ahead and keep on
writing? Versus if you're sadand depressed and you're like, oh
man, the world hates me,you're probably not going to finish
(14:30):
that great American novel. Younever know. But you probably won't.
All right, now we're going tojump into Mike's tips. First one
is pay attention to thedetails. So pay attention to what
is funny and why it's funny.Ask yourself why is this funny? Tip
number two is don't takeyourself too seriously. I'm a big
fan of self deprecating humor.I do it to myself all the time and
(14:53):
I try to make it humorous forme subconsciously. I, you know, I
tell myself I'm just makingfun of myself. It's okay. I don't
really believe this. But don'ttake yourself too seriously. You
know, you'll give yourself aheart attack or something. Don't
do that. We need you and weneed your art. Tip number three is
spend time with funny people.Again, we were bringing up, you know,
(15:16):
spending time with funnypeople. Again, very subjective, but
you're gonna, it's gonna ruboff on you is basically what it is.
So that I think that's whyit's mentioned twice. Next up on
number four is read funnybooks or articles and you know, four
through six or four, yeah,four through six is pretty much the
(15:38):
same kind of thing. You know,read funny books and articles, watch
funny TV movies or shows,listen to funny podcasts, surround
yourself with humor. Becausehere in 2025, you know, it starting
to feel a lot like 2020 whenwe had the pandemic. You know, a
lot of doom and gloom, but ifyou can walk through that with a
(15:58):
smile on your face. And again,you, you know, when I was in the
Air Force, we used dark humorto deal with stressful situations.
Surround yourself with thatkind of stuff and it'll help you
put things into a betterperspective. And then tip number
seven, the last tip is learnto laugh at the absurd. Right now,
(16:20):
here in 2025, a lot of reallyabsurd things are going on and there's
a lot of mistakes being madeby our government here in the United
States. You got to laugh atit. You know, you got to go, yeah,
how worse can it be, I don'tknow, it can go to this level, you
know, go with the absurd onit. And maybe that inspires you to
(16:43):
write something, to dance, tomake music, whatever it is. But look
at something that's going onthat's absurd and use that as your
creative device. Lord knows Ihave changed how I get my inspiration.
It used to be, you know, acouple of rum and Cokes and maybe
(17:04):
a big J. Now it's I just turnon the TV or go for a drive or I,
you know, go upstairs and lookat what my kids are doing and what
my cats are doing and go, nowthat's. That's funny. That's just,
you know, nuts. Or I go intowork and, you know, crazy directives
are being thrown at us, andI'm just like, okay, cool beans.
(17:26):
You know, some people haveused to deal with all the craziness
that goes on. Radical, youknow, following of the rules and
when the rules are writtensloppily well, hey, hey, you told
me to do it just like this.That's the way I did it. And there
(17:47):
you go. And it can be funnyand it can be great for your mental
health. Okay, well, that's allI got for this episode here for you
today. I hope you found it alittle bit funny. Hopefully you didn't
hate my bad dad jokes and mybreaking out in the song too much.
If you did well, you can reachout to me. Timothy create art podcast.com.
(18:09):
i definitely want to hearabout what you're doing in your neck
of the woods and your journeyand what you're working on and, you
know, hey, if you want to beon the show, if you'd like to be
a guest on the show like otherpeople have done, and you know, you
want to discuss a topic, emailme, let me know what you're going,
what you want to do, and wecan start that conversation. Want
(18:31):
to let you know, too that I dohave a newsletter for Korean art.
Podcast newsletter. I knowsuch a unique name there, but it's
found at Timothy Brian B r I en.substack.com check it out for yourself.
Get in your email box. I only,you know, do it every so often, so
check it out for yourself.You'll get to hear deep dives into
(18:56):
episodes that I'm doing andyou get to find out more about what
I'm doing around. So check outthat newsletter. It's a lot of fun.
Now, if you found any benefitin this podcast or any value, share
it with a friend, go rightahead. And do it in your podcast
app of choice. You have theability to share with other folks
(19:16):
or if you're listening to itfrom the website createartpodcast.com
Share that website withpeople. Here's the thing. I want
this to be a five star podcastin your eyes. I'm not even going
to ask you for a review, but Iwant it to be a five star podcast
for you. So let me know whatyou'd like to see. I do have a survey
on the website there. If yougo to createartpodcast.com survey
(19:40):
you can fill out a survey. Iknow it says 2024, but go ahead and
fill out the survey anyways.I'm looking at them and seeing what
I can do to make this showbetter for you because I really do
it for you. I do it for metoo. Makes me feel good. But I want
to make sure that your needsare being met in terms of creativity
and being an artist. Now,speaking about sharing this with
(20:02):
a friend, you can check out myother podcast. I mentioned it earlier.
Find a podcast about where Ihelp you outsmart the algorithm and
find your next binge worthypodcast. A lot of times I get interviews
with the podcaster as well andyou can find out details about the
podcast that you're not goingto hear anywhere else. You can find
it at findapodcastabout xyz.Now my last thing that I'm going
(20:26):
to talk to you about is I havea portfolio and I have a business.
It's called TKB PodcastStudio. You can find it at tkbpodcaststudio.com
that's where I help my clientsthrough quiet professionalism. Lead
through the noise and I canhelp you start your podcast and make
(20:47):
it a wonderful podcast. Ifyou're listening to this podcast,
you probably need a podcastand I can help you out with that.
So check me out over there andlet me know what I can help you out
with. Thank you so much forlistening to this episode of Korean
Art Podcast. It's important tohave humor in your life to look for
(21:08):
the funny things. So I'm goingto leave you to get on with the rest
of your day. I'm going to geton with the rest of mine to go out
there and team that inner acritic. Create more than you consume.
Go do something silly todayand make some art for somebody you
love yourself. I'll talk toyou next time.
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